The mace may be the oldest man-made murdering tool in the history of the human race. Though stone maces have existed since the Late Stone Age some 50,000 years ago, the earliest mention of warriors using these brutal bludgeoning devices come from ancient Indian epics penned nearly a millennium ago. “Gada,” the steel mace favored by Persian and Hindu warriors, eventually became tools for physical training — a function that, with the advent of well, firearms, has long surpassed bludgeoning as the mace’s primary choice.